A federal court had ordered the VA to reassess its policy denying Agent
Orange benefits to Navy sailors who served in the Vietnam War. The VA’s
conclusion: They still don’t qualify.

The U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs has once again turned down an
effort by Navy veterans to get compensation for possible exposure to
Agent Orange during the Vietnam War.

In a document released Friday, the VA said it would continue to limit
benefits related to Agent Orange exposure to only those veterans who set
foot in Vietnam, where the herbicide was sprayed, and to those who were
on boats in inland rivers. The VA compensates these veterans for a
litany of associated illnesses, including diabetes, various
cancers, Parkinson ’s disease, peripheral neuropathy and a type of heart
disease.

The U.S. Court of Appeals for Veterans Claims last April struck down VA
rules that denied compensation for sailors whose ships docked at certain
harbors in South Vietnam, including Da Nang. Those ports, the
court determined, may have been in the Agent Orange spraying
area. The court ordered the VA to review its policy.

But on Friday, the VA largely stood by its old policy and once again
asserted that there’s no scientific justification or legal requirement
for covering veterans who served off the coast.